Lynda Bird Johnson marries in the White House, Dec. 9, 1967

Text Size

-

+

reset

President Lyndon B. Johnson helps adjust the wedding gown train of his daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson, on the day of her marriage to Marine Corps Capt. Charles Robb on Dec. 9, 1967.
AP Photo

On this day in 1967, CBS broadcast an interview with President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, in which they spoke about their life in the White House. On the same day, Lynda Bird, the eldest of their two daughters, married Marine Capt. Chuck Robb in a private East Room ceremony.

In the interview recorded the previous day, Johnson called his “three girls,” including his wife, the “great pluses” in his life. When asked if he had a favorite daughter, LBJ replied that he had never known any parents who had a favorite and that, while recognizing their differences, he loved them equally.

Johnson said that while Lynda Bird was ambitious and studious, Luci Baines was creative, “very gay, and not concerned with being Phi Beta Kappa or leading the class or making the honor society.” He compared Luci to his mother, who was “one of my very special favorites. ... She was creative, literary and [appreciated] nature.” By contrast, he said, Lynda was more akin to his wife: conservative, prudent and business-oriented. “After all,” he noted, “Mrs. Johnson is the only one in our family that has ever met a payroll, you know.”

Asked to assess his soon-to-be son-in-law, Johnson voiced admiration for Robb’s deft handling of a press conference a week before the ceremony and said that he liked his daughter’s fiancé “very much.” (After serving in Vietnam, Robb became a lawyer. In 1977, the Virginia Democrat embarked on a political career, serving two terms in the Senate after being elected lieutenant governor and governor.)

The couple now resides in McLean, Va. Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, who will turn 65 in March, is a contributing editor for Ladies Home Journal and advocates for children’s literacy programs.

Source: “Flawed Giant: Lyndon B. Johnson and his Times” by Robert Dallek (1998).